Rugby World Cup Wedding Proposal

This has to be the most incredible wedding proposal place ever!!!

Following their defeat to Ireland at Wembley, Romania scrumhalf Florin Surugiu called his girlfriend on to the field and proposed.

Beautifully Bizarre Wedding Proposal Locations

It’s spring! Yay! Love is in the air and with it comes a fair share of marriage proposals!

I think the Roller Coaster Wedding Proposal is my favourite though!

One woman got a really big thrill Sunday after riding the Millennium Force roller coaster at Ohio’s Cedar Point amusement park.

But the adrenaline rush wasn’t just from the ride, which has been voted the number-one steel coaster in the world for the last three years. Her boyfriend (and now-fiancé!), Reddit user Nightzel, gave her an even bigger thrill when he popped the question on the ride, just in time for the cameras to catch it.

The fiance explained how he timed the proposal so perfectly: “I had the ‘marry me?’ shirt on underneath a button-up shirt. I modified the shirt with neodymium magnets so I could open and close it super fast. I also had the ring hidden in my pocket. I opened the shirt for the photo and then closed it as soon as we got out of the tunnel. We walked down to the photo booth and I walked behind her. When she saw our picture she turned around and I got down on one knee. Barely made it through my proposal — she said ‘yes’ and lots of tears were shed from both of us.”

Check out the other proposals courtesy of yourtango.com here. They include a Halo convention proposal, a skydiving proposal, a fake art exhibition proposal and a zero gravity proposal!! Talk about crazy in love!! haha

Is New Zealand a 'Gay Vegas'?!

According to the NZ Herald it is.

And it’s great to think New Zealand is at the forefront of at least one revolution!

Personally as a registered Marriage Celebrant I don’t believe in labelling love, but that’s what society and our laws have done. Earlier this year I was really proud to marry a lovely couple who traveled especially from Australia to be married.

Auckland is being seen as the “gay Vegas” and homosexual couples from around the world are coming here to get married and have children.

Many come from countries where a same-sex relationship is considered illegal – including Singapore, Malaysia and China – or nations such as Australia, where “commitment ceremonies” are popular but do not satisfy everyone.

Australians top the list of same-sex couples coming here to tie the knot, as their country does not recognise marriage between male or female couples.

Two stars of the television show My Kitchen Rules, Carly Saunders and Tresne Middleton, got married in secret on Waiheke Island last year. They were among the 500 Australians who have married here since August 2013, when the law changed.

Couples from China, the United Kingdom and Singapore have also made the journey.

Over the same period, seven children were registered to foreign male couples through adoption and one, by birth, to a female couple from Singapore.

Gay bartender Stanley Chan, 29, who spoke to the Herald in Singapore, said Auckland was considered the “Las Vegas for gay, lesbians and transgenders”.

Las Vegas is a popular marriage destination because of the ease of registering marriages there.

Like 28 Singaporean couples already, Chan and his British-born partner will be coming to Auckland in December to wed.

“I see New Zealand as a gay paradise and on what I hope will be the happiest day of my life, I want to be able to go to a place where I can celebrate our love in the open,” he said.

“In Singapore, we have to live in a secret underground world because the silly laws make it impossible for me to even openly disclose that I’m gay.”

Under section 377a of the penal code of Singapore, a man who has sex with another man can be imprisoned for up to two years.

Last year, two Singaporeans became the first female couple to have their child born in New Zealand and registered to both of them as parents.

The couple also met the Herald in Singapore but changed their minds about being interviewed because they felt it could hurt their business and land them in trouble with the law.

However, they said the main reason they chose to have their child in New Zealand was so they could have a birth certificate that listed both of them as parents.

“In Singapore, he would have been registered as a son of a single parent and it would not have correctly reflected our situation,” the birth mother of the child said.

Social worker Yangfa Leow, 40, the executive director of Oogachaga, which counsels and supports LGBTs (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people) in Singapore, said legal adoption there was usually allowed only for married, opposite-sex couples and single women.

This has resulted in same-sex couples finding alternative ways to include children in their lives and commit to each other, such as going to countries such as New Zealand where these are legally recognised.

“I understand that New Zealand has legalised marriage for same-sex couples, which of course is the right thing to do in terms of ensuring equality for all,” Leow said.

Last year, Lonely Planet named New Zealand the second most gay-friendly place in the world, behind Copenhagen in Denmark.

Tourism New Zealand said it did not specifically target the gay and lesbian community, but promoted the country as a great destination for weddings and honeymoons for all travellers.

Between 30,000 and 45,000 honeymooners from overseas came to New Zealand each year, spending an estimated $160 million.

After the passing of the Marriage Amendment Act, Tourism NZ ran a campaign to show how easy it is for same-sex couples from Australia to marry in New Zealand.

“There was a very positive response from same-sex couples in Australia,” said Tourism NZ spokeswoman Deborah Gray.

She said visitors were not asked to identify their sexual orientation, so there was “no robust data” to gauge the value of gay tourists.

Brett O’Riley, Auckland Tourism Events and Economic Development chief executive, said the organisation was supporting several gay-friendly tourism operators who directly target the gay market.

“We understand after the gay marriage legislation passed that a number of couples did see New Zealand as a destination to say ‘I do’ and gain legal marriage status, where their home countries may not allow them similar rights.”

Winter Wedding Tips

I know it’s spring, but it still feels alot like winter and I have a few ‘winter’ wedding coming up so thought some tips would be handy!

Winter weddings just aren’t as popular as spring or summer ones – but I think that makes them all the more mysterious and intriguing. Of course, winter weddings’ limited popularity also means there aren’t quite as many tips out there for planning one as there are for summer weddings. We’re going to change that today, and give you some pros and cons of a winter wedding, and ways to make sure your winter wedding is even more memorable than its more common summer sibling.

With winter wedding planning, you have a few great things going for you. Venues are often less expensive in the winter than they are in the summertime. Because winter weddings are less popular, you’re less likely to run into problems finding a venue for the date you want, which can be a bonus if your friends have taken all the available summer dates for their weddings!

On the other hand, winter weddings can be a tad tricky in a range of categories, so there are considerations you’ll want to take into account when you’re planning. Here are just a few you’ll want to think about before you start sending save the dates.

♥ Timing

First, consider holding your ceremony earlier in the day, so you can ensure you have enough time after the ceremony for outdoor group shots. Second, if you know you want glowy, bright wedding photos, talk to your photographer ahead of time to make sure he or she thinks this is possible based on your venue for the time of year.

♥ Warmth & Weather

If you are the kind of person who loves cozy woollen sweaters and faux fur stoles, a winter wedding might be right up your alley. For a winter wedding, you’ll need to keep the weather in mind. Check with your venue or church ahead of time to make sure the building will have had time to warm up before your ceremony or reception. There’s nothing worse than your guests not being able to concentrate because they’re freezing cold! If you expect there to be a chill, set out a few blankets for your guests to cozy up in.

♥ Photography

Likewise, if you have a long list of relatives and friends you want in your photographs – and you want those photographs taken outside – keep in mind that not everyone can look cheerful while their teeth are chattering. Depending on your location, you’ll have to make it quick if you want your bridal party to stand out in the cold and not start to turn blue!

Even if your wedding is taking place in a warmer place, you should also keep in mind that guests from snowy states might have trouble traveling depending on the weather, and you just won’t be able to predict that.

♥ Color Scheme

Winter color schemes can be beautiful, but the season does lend itself to different pairings than summer weddings. Opt for muted tones or mix in metallics or bits of nature like pinecones or boughs.

♥ Flowers

Certain flowers will, of course, be more expensive or downright impossible to get during the wintertime. But that doesn’t mean you’re completely limited. Talk to your florist about what’s in season in the winter, and work from there. Greenery like eucalyptus lends itself well to a winter wedding, and branches can be downright elegant (and inexpensive!) as centrepieces. And where you can’t go overboard with flowers, you certainly can go wild with candles. With the darker, shorter days, candles will make a bigger impact than a summer wedding starting much earlier! So load up with candles of varying heights and light ’em up!

Thanks to the Wedding App

What a wedding dress!!

Former All Black Josh Kronfeld got married recently in Rarotonga.

Check out his Bride’s lacey white wedding number!

Designed by NZ designer Tanya Carlson it’s a showstopper – although I’m not sure just how many Bride’s could actually get away with this!!?

The cutest thing about this pic is the little boy though!!

Namaste Mr & Mrs Brij

I was honoured to be invited to a stunning wedding a few weeks ago. This Bride and Groom are lucky enough to have two weddings! I’m going to officiate for them next year at their ‘party’ wedding – and this first wedding was their traditional Indian Hindu ceremony.

Never having attended a Hindu wedding I was very excited, thinking of the very beautiful 90s film Monsoon Wedding and all those colourful Bolliwood movies and copious amounts of marigold flowers!

The Groom didn’t enter by horse drawn carriage or elephant as I was told happens at some Hindu weddings, but I wasn’t disappointed, the Groom looked like a maharajah from a bygone era and the Bride was stunning, decorated in gold jewelery with incredible mendhi designs covering her hands. Reading about the origins of mendhi (henna) the decoration ritual is often one of the most important and fun filled pre-wedding ceremonies. And appropriately it represents ‘awakening the inner light, with traditional Indian designs representing the sun. Very fitting for a wedding ceremony.

There are a few key rituals common in Hindu weddings – Kanyadaan, Panigrahana, and Saptapadi, which are respectively, giving away of daughter by the father, voluntarily holding hand near the fire to signify union, and taking seven steps with each step includes a vow/promise to each other before fire. The Hindu wedding ceremony can take up to several hours, with celebrations starting days before and carrying on after. The primary witness of a Hindu marriage is the fire-deity (or the Sacred Fire) Agni. The seven step ritual is the most important ritual. Each step corresponds to a vow the groom makes to the bride, and a vow the bride makes to the groom. The vows are pronounced in Sanskrit in long form, or short quicker form, sometimes also in the language of the groom and bride. In my beautiful Bride and Grooms wedding, this was performed around a fire; and after each of the seven oaths to each other, the groom and bride perform the ritual of agnipradakshinam – walk around the fire, with the end of their garments tied together. The groom usually leads the bride in the walk. After this the couple are considered husband and wife.

The other extraordinary thing about the wedding was it was held in a beautifully decorated outdoor altar -during a week of nonstop rain and dark skies – but miraculously the sun shone the entire day for the happy couple!

Being a traditional wedding the priest who performed the ceremony spoke mainly in sanskrit, so the only thing I understood was ‘namaste’ which we say in yoga class. The reason behind namaste according to wikipedia is a deep spiritual significance recognizing the belief that the life force, the divinity, the Self or the God in me is the same in all. Acknowledging this oneness with the meeting of the palms, we honor the god in the person we meet. And you know, when you do it, it makes you feel quite centred and humbled.

Namaste Mr & Mrs Brij.